Pressure indicator for pneumatic tires



Sept. 28, 1926. 1,601,315

C. J. MANNING PRESSURE INDICATOR FOR PNEUMATIC TIRES- Filed March 19 1925 [zzwntor flaleman J 771mm;

Patented Sept. 28,- 1926.

um'rsn STATES COLEMAN J'. MANNING, OF MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

PRESSURE INDICATOR FOR PNEUMATIC TIRES.

Application filed March 19, 1925. Serial No. 16,655.

This invention is embodied in certain improvements hereinafter described, in a pressure indicator including a pressure gauge, whose casing is adapted to be rig- 6 idly mounted on and secured to a rigid portion of a vehicle wheel, and a flexible tube adapted to flexibly connect the gauge casing with the usual inflating tube which projects through a wheel rim from the inner 110 tube or other air chamber of a pneumatic tire.

The object is to provide a gauge adapted to be supported by the body of'the wheel and including a nipple projecting outward from the outer side of the wheel, so that it is in position to be conveniently coupled to an air conduit employed to inflate the tire of either a spoked wheel or a disk wheel.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,

Figure 1 is a side View, showing a portion of a spoked wheel having a pneumatic tire and a pressure indicator embodying the improvements. Figure 2 is an enlargement of a portion of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig ure 2, showing in section the free end portion of the flexible tube, and in elevation, a portion of the usual inflating tube of a pneumatic tire. Figured is a fragmentary side View, show.- ing my improvements embodied in a disk wheel. Figure 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Figure 4. p

The same reference characters indicate the same arts in all of the-figures. f In t e embodiment of the invention shown v4 by Figures 1, 2 and 3, 12 designates the head portion of a gauge casing containing pressure registering mechanism formed. to enter an opening in the wheel formed by the space between two contiguous spokes s. The head is provided with attaching means whereby it may be rigidly'secured to a portion of the outer side of the wheel formed by the outer sides of said spokes. it The wheel has a pneumatic tire t and the usualinflating tube 3' projecting from the air space of the tire through the wheel rim r. The attaching means is embodied, in this instance, in a-flat-sided seating flange 13, integral with the head portion 12 and projecting from one side thereof, and bearing on the flat outer sides of the inner end portions of said spokes, the flange being perforated for the reception of attaching screws 14, engaged with the spokes.

. The flange is preferably provided with projections or cars 13 (Figure 2), through which the screws pass.

The casing also includes a" neck portion, projecting from the side of the head portion 12, and designated as a whole by 12 (Figures 2 and 3). Within the neck portion is an air chamber 15, associated with the registering mechanism of the gauge. v

Although any suitable registering mechanism may be employed, I prefer that shown by Figures 2 and 3,.including a flexible rubber diaphragm 16, forming one side of an air space in the chamber, as shown by Figure 2, a rod 17, whose head 18 bears on the under side of the diaphragm,the rod pass ing through the diaphragm, and a'volute spring 19 seated on an abutment 20, within the neck portion 12of the casing and nor: mall depressing the central portion of the diap ragm.

.When there is suificient air pressure in the chamber 15 to overcome the pressure of the spring, the diaphragm and rod are raised and the rod imparts, through suitable connections, a turning movement to a rock-shaft 21, journaled in fixed bearings in the head portion 12 of the casing. The rock-shaft carries a pointer 22, located in an outward- 1y projecting indicator box 23-, constituting a part of the head portion of the casing. A spring 24 normally holds the pointer at zero on a dial 25.

26 designates a flexible tube,preferably seamless and of copper, of alength sufiicient toextend from the predetermined location of the neck portion 12 of the-casing to the inflating tube 25'; One end of the flexible tube is fixed to the gauge casing and communicates through a passage 27 with the chamber15. The'opposite end of the flexible tube is provided with coupling means for detachable engagement with the inflating tube, said means preferably including an outwardly projecting flange 28 (Figure 3) on the flexible tube, and "acoupling sleeve 29, internally threaded to engage the usual external thread on the inflating tubefand provided with an inwardly projecting flange 30, hearing on the flange 28.

" The neck portion 12 of the casing to.

which the flexible tube 26 is attached,,is'

provided with a nipple 32, having a spring closed valve 33, whose stem 34 projects from the nipple. W hen the cap 35 is removed from the nipple, an air-supplying conduit maybe coupled to the nipple and caused to open the valve. The nipple communicates through the passage 27 with the chamber 15, and the flexible tube 26, so that the pressure of air supplied by said conduit extends to the chamber and to the air space of the tire.

The nipple 32 projects outward from the neclrv portion 12, and taces in the same direction as the dial 25 of the registering mechanism, so that the nipple projects outward from the side of the wheel to which the gauge casing is attached, as shown by Figure 3'. When the gauge casing is attached to a seat at the outer side of the wheel, the dial faces outward from the outer side, and the nipple projects outward from the same side of the wheel, and is conveniently accessible by a person standing at the Y outer side of the wheel and manipulating a coupling member on the delivering end of an air-supplying conduit.

36 designates a metal plate or apron confined against' the outer side of the seating flange 13 by the attaching screws 14:. Said plate has a larger orifice 37, through which the indicator box 23 projects, and a smaller orifice 38, through which the nipple 32 projects. The plate 36 distributes the clamping pressure of the attaching screws 14, over a considerable portion of the outer side of the casing and thus increases the strength of the connection between the casing and the wheel. The plate also conceals the outer side of the casing, and constitutes a neat and desirable finish.

The outward projection of the nipple is particularly advantageous in the disk wheel shown by Figures 4: and 5, in which p designates the outer one of the two side plates or disks constituting the wheel body, and p designates the inner disk. The outer disk p is provided with an orifice 20 (Figure 5), receiving the head portion of the gauge casing, here designated 12*. The head portion ofthe casing is provided with an annular seating flange 13*, hearing on the outer side of the dish p, and attached thereto by screws 14 The flexible tube, here designated 26 extends from the neclr portion 12 of the casing to the inflating tube t. The disk p has an orifice All (Figure 5) through which the nipple 32 projects, the nipple projecting neonate from the outer side of the dish wheel, so bet it is conveniently accessible.

The flexible tube is preferably bent in each case as indicated by Figures 1, 3 d, to increase its flexibility.

It will be seen that the seating flange 13 shown by Figs. 2 and 3 and 13 shown by Figs. 4c and 5, located at the outer end of the head and arranged to overlap and bear on a portion of the outer side of the wheel adjacent to an opening therein, locates the head in said opening and the indicator box outside the opening and projecting from the outer side of the wheel, so that the diameter of the box may exceed the width of the opening to any extent desired. In other words, the diameter of the indicator box and the dial are not limited by the size of the wheel opening and may overlap the outer side of the wheel to any desired extent, so that the dial and pointer may be large enough to be conveniently read at a considerable distance from the wheel.

I claim: For use with a wheel having a pneumatic tire, and a tire-inflating tube; a tire-pressure indicator comprising a gauge casing including a head formed to enter an opening in a wheel, an outwardly projecting seating flange, located at the outer end of the head and provided with means whereby it may be attached to the wheel, and an indicator box fixed to the seating flange and located at the outer side thereof, said box containing a dial, a neck projecting from one side of the head and containlng an air chamber, the neck being provided with a valved nipple; pressure-registering mechanism operable by air pressure in said chamber, said mechanism including a pointer located in the indicator box, to cooperate with the dial; and conduit means connecting the air chamber and nippie with the inflating valve of the wheel, the seating flange being arranged to overlap and bear at its inner side on a ortion of the outer side of the wheel ad acent to said opening, and th oidset the indicator box, the dial, and the pointer, outward. from said outer side, so that the diameters of the box and dial are not limited by the size of the wheel opening.

In testimony whereof T have afiixed my signature.

oonnnan a. MANNING. 

